


Lion's Roar

by HotaruGFC (JaclynGFC)



Category: Black Clover - 田畠裕基 | Tabata Yuki
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-07-28 21:52:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16250498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaclynGFC/pseuds/HotaruGFC
Summary: After Fuegoleon is injured, Julius needs someone to step into his shoes. Except the only person he can think of is someone who never wanted the job.Probably canon divergent because I haven't seen Mereo outside of the manga and I think she first shows up in the light novel.





	1. Into the Den

"Sir, we really need to figure out what to do about the vacancy in the crimson Lions." Marx added as he continued to pile paperwork in front of the wizard king. He had managed to trap the flighty, yet incredibly powerful mage for the day and he planned to get the most out of his captured charge.

"I told you what to do about that already." Julius Novochrono whined in a manner quite unbecoming for a man of both is age and station. Marx was used to the behavior. The Wizard King tended to get a little testy when he was not allowed the freedom to come and go as he pleased. Unfortunately for Marx, Julius tended to want to go search out new magic more than stay and do his actual work.

"And we've sent the letter--five times to be exact. We have yet to hear back." Marx explained patiently and not for the first time.

"What do you mean?" Julius's pen stopped mid stroke, as if it were the first he had heard of the matter. Marx rolled his eyes

"Exactly what I said. We've sent her letter after letter requesting her presence, that she return to the capital. Frankly I'm tired of writing them. And we have yet to hear back from her. Not a single word. Not even a 'leave me alone', which honestly surprised me."

Julius put down the pen and rubbed his forehead. He took a deep breath and released it with a sigh.

"I knew asking her was never going to be easy." He muttered as he pushed the chair back and stared out of the window.

"The Vice Captain is more than capable of standing in for Fuegoleon until he is able to resume duties." Marx reminded him.

Julius clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. He knew what Marx said was the truth; Randall was more than competent and an effective leader. Fuegoleon had trained him well. But Julius was concerned. He could not explain why--not to Marx, not to anyone, without them growing suspicious or curious about the events unfolding around them. When Julius's magic had manifested for the first time, he had vowed to keep his knowledge a secret. So far, he had been able to fulfill his self-imposed vow, and he had no intention of breaking it now.

And something with the Crimson Lion Kings' vice captain was… off.

"Things won't be the same without a Vermilion at the head, Marx. I really need her."

"Didn't she leave because she didn't want command, Sir?"

Julius nodded his head. She had never sought power--not political power anyway, but that was not the only reason she left. He stood in silent contemplation for a long moment.

"That's it." Julius turned suddenly and strode across the room to the door. "I'm going to go talk to her."

Marx stared at him, slack-jawed for a moment before protesting.

"But Sir!"

The door slammed shut behind the Wizard King, and Marx shook his head forlornly at the large pile of documents needing to be reviewed.

***

Julius appeared in the clearing of a forest near one of the boarder towns, as far from the capital as one might be able to get and still technically be in the same kingdom. A small house sat on the edge of the clearing. Julius crossed his arms as he stared at it and sighed. A crashing noise followed by a string of loud curses told him he was in the right place as much as the mana pouring out from the building itself. A burst of flame belched out of the chimney's top and licked a low hanging branch. Buds of fire burst open as tongues of flame ready to devour the branch. Julius raised a hand and dialed back the fire on the branch until it was nothing. The grass beneath his feet turned withered and brown. He took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders and walked toward the door with more confidence than he felt.

He knocked on the door once, then twice. He was about to knock for a third time when he heard her voice.

"I swear to the demon, if this is another messenger from the capital…" The house's occupant complained loudly, loud enough to be heard through the door as she pulled it opened. She stopped when she saw Julius smiling at her. She narrowed her crimson rimmed blue eyes coldly before slamming the door in his face.

Julius's shoulders fell and he shook his head. He had known she would try to ignore him. It wasn't the first time she had done so. He took another deep breath, steeling his nerves to try once more. He knocked again.

"Go away." came the voice from inside the small house. The words were gruff and slurred as they were muffled by the wooden door. Julius walked over to a window in an attempt to peek in. He could not see past the grime on the old glass. He walked back to the door and knocked once more.

She did not answer.

Julius felt he was running out of time, a strange feeling for someone whose domain was time itself. He had to convince her to return to the capital, to take her rightful place, and he had to convince her soon. The threads of time were already starting to unravel and the uncertainty of everything, of every moment right now made him ill at ease.

He knocked again, but this time he didn't stop knocking. He kept rapping at the door in a slow and steady pace, biting his lip in an effort to remain calm. The woman inside the building, the one he was hoping to lure back home, was every bit as wild as an animal. Patience, he reminded himself, patience and gentleness. He knew both could go a long way to coaxing her out. He had learned so long ago. He took a deep breath and continued the slow patient knocking.

"Will you stop that!" She yelled as she pulled the door open and caught his knocking fist in her hand.

"Not until you talk to me, you crazy she-devil."

"What exactly do you have to say that you think I need to hear, you pompous time-steeling windbag?" She crossed her arms over her chest. Her red hair stuck out in a crazed mess, like the dancing flames of a campfire gone out of control. But her eyes were like ice as she glared at him.

"I take it you didn't read any of the letters?"

"Why the hell would I? I left that life for a reason and you know it. Why would I want anything to do with it now?"

Julius took a deep breath and sighed as he kicked the toe of his boot into the ground. Time was slipping away and all his work was starting to fall apart. And Julius Novochrono did not like it one bit.

"Because Fuegoleon's been injured." He met her cold gaze with a serious look of his own.

"Well, the idiot needs to get himself patched up and get back to it." Her words were as cold as her eyes, heartless to anyone else, but he saw how her hand gripped her upper arm and could feel the edge her magic always had shift ever so slightly.

"This isn't a little scratch. He lost his arm. Poof, gone. He's been in stasis for months, Mereo."

"Don't. Call me. That." The edge to her voice shifted dangerously and her magic sparked around them, lighting tiny fires at their feet. Julius sighed as he stamped out one tiny bloom of flame.

"I need, I mean, we need you. The Crimson Lions need you to lead them."

"What about that other idiot? The one Fuego picked as his second?"

Julius knew he would come up, just as he had with Marx. He should have prepared a better answer, but he had none to give. He only knew Randall was not to be trusted in the events to come, though he didn't quite know why.

"The Crimson Lions aren't the same without a Vermilion at the helm." He echoed back what he had told Marx.

Mereoleona scoffed at the statement.

"Then get my father to do it. Or Leopold. He's old enough by now, isn't he?"

"Your father can't remember where he is half the time and Leopold is barely more than a rookie with zero leadership experience." He felt his own anger rising to match her fire. She opened her mouth, but he raised a hand to stop her. "And before you ask, Kirsch is the vice captain of the Coral Peacocks, so I can't tap him to do the job. Besides, do you really want Kirsch ruining the squad's reputation?"

She closed her mouth again as he answered her unspoken question, pressing her lips into a thin line. She seemed to vibrate with indecision as she stared at him. Eventually, she uncurled her arms from over her chest, and Julius could see faint scorch marks where her hand had gripped her sleeve.

"Come in then. Tell me what happened to my idiot brother." She stepped back from the doorway and allowed him to pass her. Julius could feel her eyes boring into his being as he passed her, following him like a predator follows its prey.

"Have a seat." She offered as she closed the door behind them and lit the lamps in the room from where she stood, alleviating the darkness of the small space. Julius perched on the edge of what looked like an old footstool as she took the only real chair in the room. "I'd offer some tea, but I don't have more than one cup, or any tea."

"I didn't come here for pleasantries anyway, Mereoleona."

She smirked in satisfaction at the use of her full name.

"So. What happened?"

"It's not entirely clear, since he's been in stasis since the event, but from what we pieced together, Fuegoleon was abducted during an attack on the capital. He was removed from the battlefield using spatial magic. And when he returned, his arm was missing, along with part of his shoulder and chest." Julius used a hand to draw a line on himself mimicking the wound.

"Missing? It was just gone?"

Julius looked at her hands as they gripped the arms of the chair. He wondered if she was going to shred them like the cat she so often resembled. He nodded.

"Who could do something like that?"

"I'm not sure. Not entirely anyway."

"Is your magic failing you, old man? I thought there was nothing that got past you."

"These people, they… I don't know, it's like the tapestry is becoming unraveled, or it's too loosely woven. I can't see the full picture. What we do know is the attack was staged by a terrorist group we had been investigating for the last few years. They had never done more than a few angry protests or a small scale attack on a border town before. This attack, though, was sophisticated; it had purpose."

Mereoleona's fingernails dragged against the old leather arms of the chair as she gritted her teeth.

"And where were you? What did you do to stop them?"

"I was… I was investigating something else."

"So you weren't there? What kind of irresponsible, idiotic man are you? Wait, don't answer that."

"Mereo…"

"You lost the right to call me that a long time ago, Julius." Her eyes narrowed. Julius ran a hand through his short blonde hair. He cleared his throat before continuing.

"The attack was sophisticated, well timed and well executed. It drew out the captains in the capital and isolated them. When Fuegoleon taken, he was fighting one of the assailants along with a few rookies and Leopold. When he was returned, he was near death. And his necklace was missing, along with his arm."

"His necklace? That old stone Father had given him, the one he never took off?"

Julius nodded.

"It took me a while to put everything together, but I think they targeted him because of the necklace. If it was just an attack against the kingdom or the royal families, why would they have not targeted the Silvas as well? Or Leopold? No; it had to be because of the stone."

"Why? What could they possibly want with that silly old trinket?"

"I don't exactly know. All I know is they are collecting them for something."

"And because of this, my brother, idiot that he is, got himself hurt."

Julius nodded. Mereoleona shook her head in disbelief. She stood up and paced the room before punching the stone wall. The force of the magically enhanced blow cracked the stone. Julius looked at the dark sliver in the light gray rock before turning back to her.

"And now you want me to go back, don't you? To return to that world."

"Yes. You are the only one who can lead the squad in your brother's absence. At least the only one in my mind who could do it properly."

"I never wanted to get involved in the political side of things, Julius. I still don't."

"But you will, won't you? For Fuegoleon's sake?"

She looked at the flames flickering in the hearth where she had been cooking a stew made of wild plants and venison.

"I'll think about it."

Julius watched her for a moment before he nodded and stood. He knew how hard it had been for her to simply talk to him, must less to allow him into her home. He knew, as well, how difficult the decision he had placed on her would be. He looked back at her from the doorway, wondering if her anger at her father, at him would be enough to keep her from coming back, despite her love for her brother.

Mereoleona stared at the fire until the stew bubbled and started to burn. She grabbed the pot and removed it from the fire with her bare hands, barely wincing from the heat as she instinctively protected herself with her own mana. She cursed at the pain in her hand, at herself for not acting fast enough, at the slight smell of charring rising from the pot, and at Julius for filling her head with questions and concerns she could not quiet.

She left the pot sitting on the table's stone top. She bolted out the door like a woman possessed and sprinted through the woods as long as she could. Before long, she broke out into a clearing. She skidded to a halt as she faced the mountain rising before her. The heat rolling from it was oppressive. She basked in it for a moment.

This is the place where she was happiest, where she was the most free. She could feel the wild mana singing through her veins, pouring strength and power in through her soul. She felt the itch to climb to the top of the mountain before her as it belched glowing rivers of lava and black gusts of ash. She was drawn to the mountain in a way she could not explain—it's primal fire, the fire of the earth itself echoing the raging flames of her spirit.

On any other day, she would make the climb. She would face the beasts which dwelled there. She would conquer them all, conquer the mountain, and conquer herself.

But today was not any other day.

Today begged her to face the past, to touch the broken parts of herself she had tried to meld back together with the fire of the mountain. She had long been able to ignore the seams and welds in her spirit. But today brought them all into full light.

She stepped further into the oppressive heat of the constantly erupting volcano. Mana rising up from deep with the earth, erupting with the lava which flowed down the mountain's sides, swilled around her. She gathered the energy around her, wrapping it around her body like a blanket before letting it erupt from her spirit with an angry, grief filled shriek.

Flames ignited in the air around her, scorching what little vegetation had found a way to grow there on the volcano's edge. She punched the ground, her magic enhancing the force of her strike and left a small crater at her feet. She punched again and again, hoping to rid herself of the anger bubbling within her.

But she did not know with whom she was angry. She was angry at Fuegoleon, to be sure, as the fool had gotten himself injured by falling into a trap. She knew he knew better. She was angry with Julius for simply breathing. She had still not forgiven him for what he had done. She did not know if she ever would. She was angry with her father—a man she had looked up to for so long, for growing old and infirm, though she understood doing so was a natural part of life. Still, she found herself in disbelief when she thought of him as anything but the strong mage he was in her memories. She was angry with him too for how he had so quickly replaced her mother after she had died in childbirth with what would have been her younger sister.

And mostly she was angry with herself for being so angry about everything.

She collapsed to the ground, her fist bloody from the shards of rock which had cut her as she punched at the ground. She lay on her back and took in a deep breath of the stench of sulfur emanating from the volcano. She wondered if the water which would appear in the caldera that evening would be enough to wash her anger away. She wondered if she would ever be able to relax again, given the knowledge Julius had shared.

Fuegoleon was hurt.

The thought made her want to throw up. She felt her belly clenching as she tried to imagine her strong and powerful younger brother—so much more suited to leadership than she ever thought she could be—weak and powerless, unconscious. The thought terrified her.

She sat up and dusted the dirt and ash from her red-gold hair.

“Dammit.” She muttered as she stood up. The anger flared inside once more as she realized Julius had gotten exactly what he had wanted. She shook her head as she walked back to the small house and prepared for the journey back to civilization.


	2. Chapter 2

Mereoleona wrinkled her nose at the smell of people gathered in the capital. The gathered masses of humans and all of the products of their existence turned her stomach slightly as she walked through the busy markets and streets. The city was nothing like the freshness of her small house in the woods. Sure, the woods had their own stench to them from time to time, but nothing quite like the city. She could smell the resignation in both the beasts used by the commoners to help with daily tasks their magic cannot accomplish and the peasants used as beasts for the nobility.

The stink of the place was one of many reasons she had left.

She wore a dark cloak with its hood pulled up over her bright hair. She could do little else to hide the nature of her birth. She was not ashamed of her royal blood, not necessarily anyway, but she felt recognition often caused more trouble than it was worth on the few times she had ventured into the capital since she had sought solace in the wilds. The last time she had returned was for her brother's wedding, but even that was years ago.

Despite the time apart, her feet still knew the way through the city streets. She could still find her way to the squad headquarters without a thought--blindfolded if need be. The alleyways between buildings, the narrow streets reminded her of the paths game took through the dense brush of the forests. She had long ago learned to navigate those wild paths as she had once navigated the city.

She stood in the center of the market--not because she was lost, but because she was uncertain. Julius had told her Fuegoleon had been injured, but he had not given her much else to go on. She looked at the roads leading from the central square. One would lead her to the squad headquarters just outside of the town. If the injury was a grave as Julius had led her to believe, she was not confident he would have been brought there, though it was essentially his home. Another path would bring her to the hospital--a much more fitting place for recovery from a serious injury. And yet, she felt certain he would not have been kept there for the months since the event. A third path led to the palace and where she grew up. Her father would be there, as would her stepmother. She was concerned about her father as well, especially now with what Julius had told her about her father's mental state. But the thought of going to see him and the memories being back in the palace might bring up filled her with an uncontrollable rage she barely kept contained.

She turned after a moment toward the headquarters of the Crimson Lion Kings. The squad had been her home since she had gotten her grimoire at fifteen. She had been grateful for the peace she felt once she had taken her place, but the more she was asked to take on, the more she felt unsuited to the duties expected of her. Rather, she felt unsuited for the command she was expected to assume. Much as she felt unsuited to take over her brother's role during his incapacity. She quite enjoyed the job of safeguarding the kingdom, protecting the people, and especially, hunting down those who would do harm to both. She had never formally resigned. She really was not allowed to do so given her family status. But no one had ever come asking for her to return once she had left.

At least not until now.

She still wasn't sure if she would do as Julius had asked. She still didn't want to take command. But she had to see her brother.

She walked through the gate which led into the courtyard at the building which had been her home for so many years, feeling a rush of nostalgia and a sense of belonging which never seemed to go away no matter how long it had been since she had last visited.

She stood in the courtyard looking at the other members of the squad coming and going. No one even looked twice at her. Perhaps it was her crimson hair, perhaps the old squad robe she had pulled out from its hiding place, but she must have looked enough of the part to not draw attention. She took a deep breath, noting how different the courtyard's smell was from the stench of the city. Something about the place exuded the scent of fire; it put her mind at ease.

As she passed into the building and made her way to where she thought Fuegoleon might be, she frowned at the number of knights she saw lazing around, growing complacent. If what Julius had told her was right, her brother had been put out of commission a couple of months earlier. But the level of apathy for the job she saw seemed far too lax for only a couple of months without proper oversight. She wondered how Leopold was taking his new found freedom. She did not know if he would be excited to be out from under Fuegoleon's thumb or if he would miss the structure she knew Fuegoleon would have otherwise imposed.

She knocked on the door to the hospital wing.

When there was no answer, she pushed the door open quietly, slowly and peeked inside. She felt like a child once more sneaking around the palace as she and Fuegoleon pilfered sweets from the kitchens. But now instead of getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, she was hiding from those who might question her or her motives for being there. She had noticed several unfamiliar faces in the courtyard, faces who would not know her. She did not want to have to explain herself to them just yet, not when everything was still up in the air.

The hospital wing was silent, empty. She would have called it tomb-like, but for the glow of magic from the far side of the room. Julius had told her Fuegoleon was in a form of magical stasis. She guessed the glow was from whatever magic was protecting him, keeping him alive. Her boots were soft, but still made a scuffing sound against the wooden floor of the room as she walked toward the light. The blueish cocoon enshrouded her brother. She had told herself he was an idiot for allowing himself to get injured, and he was a fool to fall for such an obvious trap, but looking at him now struck her like a punch to the gut.

She seated herself in a small chair next to the bed upon which he was lay in an effort to avoid landing on the floor as her knees gave way beneath her.

"Oh, Fuego." She muttered. His right side had been torn to ribbons and she could see the bone in some places, despite the healing efforts she knew must have been attempted. His arm was completely gone, ripped from the shoulder. Otherwise, he lay in quiet repose, looking more like a corpse than her brother. His skin was pallid, the blue glow of the stasis field casting a lavender tone to him. His face hung slack, his mouth slightly opened. As she watched him, she could see the incredibly slow rate of his breathing as his chest filled with air and then slowly retracted as he exhaled. His red-orange hair lay spread out around his shoulders, or what was left of them. Mereoleona wanted to reach through the field and place her hand on his forehead if only to let him know she was there.

She sat back into the small chair instead. She crossed her arms and watched him as Julius' request echoed through her mind. Eventually, her eyes began to drift shut and she recalled memories of their childhood together, of the time when they were inseparable. Everything had changed, though, when Fuegoleon had gotten betrothed and Mereoleona had decided she had had enough of politics, secret alliances, and plans made in backroom meetings trying to control her life. But now, sitting here once more, with nothing to keep her company except her brother's molasses-like breathing, she felt like everything had picked up right where they left off.

The sound of the door opening and a shuffling noise snapped her back to the present.

"Oh. Mereo?" A woman's high pitched voice echoed through the large mostly empty and quiet room. "I had no idea you had returned."

Mereoleona shook her head as the shorter woman approached the bedside.

"I haven't. I, Julius told me what happened." She looked for a moment longer at her unmoving brother before facing the newcomer. "I am so sorry, Emily."

Emily smiled sadly as her hand ran slowly over her swollen belly. The movement drew Mereoleona's eyes, which grew wide at the realization.

"Congratulations!" Mereoleona could not contain her excitement and disbelief. "When are you due? Does Fuego know?" She asked in rapid succession.

Emily's sad smile broadened into a genuine smile of joy as she rushed to embrace her sister-in-law.

"Give me a hug first, you crazy beast." Mereoleona wrapped her arms around the petite woman, careful to accommodate for her enlarged midsection.

"Yes, he knows, and I'm due in a couple of weeks. The midwife says it's a boy." She rubbed her hands over her belly, surrounding the protrusion protectively. Her brown eyes danced in the blue glow with love, excitement, and anticipation. But her voice quivered with a fear only Mereoleona's well-honed senses could detect.

Emily walked over to the bedside and looked at her husband. She tucked a loose strand of light brown hair behind her ear.

"I can't even touch him like this. I don't know if he can hear me. I come to talk to him every day, but I don't know if it does anything. The stasis field is keeping him alive, but what kind of life is this?" She wiped her eyes.

"Fuego's a fighter. If anyone can find a way back, it's him." Mereoleona's voice was filled with confidence which welled up from deep within her--from memories and experiences she had long buried. "He's too stubborn to die like this."

Emily chuckled.

"I hope you're right." She took a seat in the small chair next to the bed, sighing as she took the weight off of her tiny, swollen feet. "I know our marriage was never one driven by love, but I do care for him deeply. He needs to live to see his child if anything."

"He will. I'll make sure of it." Mereoleona placed a hand on her sister-in-law's shoulder, looking her square in her brown eyes as she made the vow. 

Emily nodded and turned her attention to the sleeping form of her husband. Mereoleona took one step back, then two before turning to the door. She did not want to intrude on their private time.

"He would want you to do it, you know," Emily said, her voice cutting through the silence and freezing Mereoleona to the spot. "Take care of the Lions, I mean. He would only leave them to you, despite, well, everything."

I said I wasn't going to cry, Mereoleona thought. she hated crying. She hated the feeling of being helpless, vulnerable she got when she cried. But she knew Emily was right. She knew Julius was right. She hated the idea he was right, but she could no longer deny it. 

But neither could she forget what had happened, what he had done. 

And if Julius Novochrono was to have her return to the fold, he would have to expiate his offense somehow.

Mereoleona had absolutely no idea how he might do so. 

She wiped her eyes and stepped out of the room. She had a few more stops on her schedule. Decisions could wait a bit longer. If she saw Julius now, she might kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given the setting, I find it quite reasonable that the royal family members would have politically arranged marriages, regardless of the sexuality of the people involved. Continuing the bloodline would likely be seen as a high priority for the royal and noble houses, hence the introduction of Fuegoleon's wife.

**Author's Note:**

> My take on how this might go. I know it's not canon (probably) but I have a feeling these characters have a bit of history we might never see (not romantic history, but history). Anyway, seeing Mereo dealing with being the responsible mama lion makes me happy.


End file.
